As a former provider with oDesk, oDesk should be referred to as eSlavery. Essentially that is all that it amounts to. If you are looking for work that pays on average less than $3 an hour and constantly monitors your every move while working, oDesk is for you. oDesk caters to buyers that want to pay as little as they can, while expecting to receive incredible results. It's not worth the pain.

After having initiated a number of projects on oDesk with varying success, my biggest concern is that the feedback system is completely unreliable for ranking the developers who will be providing services. Feedback you make appears to be weighed by the amount of payment you make so that providers who abandon jobs and receive no payment for those jobs are then not penalized. Despite abandoning job after job they retain a high rating. This encourages providers to bid far lower than they can accomplish the job for and then abandon the job when they realize they can't do it. It's a tremendous time waste for the buyer. But that is not the worst of the feedback system. I even had a provider who hacked into my system to extort money from me when they failed to complete the project because despite their earnest efforts they simply were not qualified. Understandably I gave them very poor ratings and complained about them hacking my site, but despite the complaint having been verified by oDesk support, when I checked again any details of the incident were gone. Looking over the online work history of other providers who have performed poorly for me, I have seen numerous cases where negative feedback from buyers other than myself appears to have been erased. I am extremely generous with praise when a provider even comes close to fulfilling specified requirements, and I generally pay a bonus when they do so. When I make a negative comment about a developer it is only done when they REALLY mess up. It is dishonest that my negative comments and those of others are erased when my positive comments are featured so prominently. Overall the oDesk provider rating system is not credible and introduces too much risk into the IT process. I recognize the company's need to have a rating system that doesn't thin the ranks of developers too much, but that must be balanced with the need for a rating system that rewards providers when they pay attention to detail in reading specifications and when they exercise diligence in completing them. I fully support that a feedback system should provide an opportunity to improve on poor feedback when received, but feedback should be improved by the developer's gaining technical knowledge and experience at completing projects, not by the oDesk administrator hitting the delete button on negative feedback.

Odesk is a revolutionatry change in outsourcing industry, It enables workers to work at home and at the same time makes sure that every possible step has been taken to mantain best quality through its unique Application.

Workers needs to complete a startup test before they can apply for a job, that is to make sure that workers understands that how oDesk works and how important it is to mantain quality work. Test is all about oDesk application and its process that how oDesk operates.

Once cleared test, odesk offers a variety of skill tests for workers. workers can pass as many skill tests as many they can, this gives a better idea to buyer about workers capabilities and helps him hire the best available workers.

Theres a big potential for companies dealing with offshore business.

Though oDesk is new in the market, but it has developed a huge trust from both the workers and buyers in a very short period of time.

The best thing I like is that it gives you every available options to withdraw your earnings.